Not just genes or molecular targets, to be targeted with targeted anti-cancer therapies. Precision oncology today goes far beyond this horizon, encompassing a much broader universe. In fact, cancer prevention becomes personalized thanks to the identification of precise molecular alterations that make it possible to identify population groups at risk. And, in treatments, the model to follow is the mutational one, in which all the alterations suffered by the organism, as a result of changes in the individual and external environment, which may have a role in the development of cancer and in the choice of therapy, must be considered. .
The new frontiers were outlined today at La Sapienza University at the ‘World Health Summit Regional Meeting – Europe’, in the session dedicated to precision oncology, moderated by Paolo Marchetti (full professor of Oncology at La Sapienza University and President of the Foundation for Personalized Medicine) and Khay-Guan Yeoh (Professor of Medicine at the University of Singapore).
“Prevention becomes personalized because it can be based on precision medicine models, through the identification of specific genomic determinants linked to an increased risk of developing cancer – says Marchetti -. This includes a series of interventions to identify the tumor. at an early stage or to avoid the onset of the disease. For example, women with a mutation in the BRCA gene, which represents a risk factor for breast cancer, may be offered more frequent breast screening programs, which are part of secondary prevention , or treatment with aromatase inhibitors or antiestrogens, still in clinical trials, to enhance primary prevention. So we can save more lives and ensure savings for the health system “.
And today, the experts conclude, the new model is the ‘mutational’ one in which all the alterations undergone by the organism must be considered, also including the microbiota, that is the set of billions of microorganisms that live in the body providing essential support to the our life.
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